March 21, 2017

(En ESPAÑOL abajo) Hi everyone! Today I wanted to share some tips on how to take newborn pictures in your own home, as we did with Noam! Newborn pics are usually taken between day 5 and day 10 of live, as it is when babies sleep the most. We took Noam's when he was 13 days old and he was awake almost all the time, oh my!

This is what you'll need:1. A
heater! This is a must, specially if you're to take pics during the
colder months. No matter how warm the house is, a heater is needed to
warm the space where the baby will be without clothes.2. Natural light. Choose the area of your home which gets the better natural light, it makes all the difference!

3. A blanket (or several!) to use as a backdrop. Blankets with textures work great for this purpose!

5. Props such as baskets to put your baby in. This is not a must and pictures in which the baby simply lies on a blanket are perfect, too, but it does give the photoshoot some more variety!6. Newborn posing ideas! Go get some on my Pinterest and get inspired!7. A DSLR camera is highly recommended!

I hope you liked the tips and Noam's pictures, do not hesitate to leave a comment if you try this at home, I'd love to know ;)

March 5, 2017

Nesting
hit me like crazy on the evening of February the 4th. It was a Saturday
night so that meant one of the only shows we ever watch on TV was on,
and Jeff was asking me to join him in the sofa to watch it, but I felt I
was way too busy and had a lot to do. That day was my EDD and my
hospital bag wasn't even ready, so in a way I had indeed a lot to get
done, but then it went way beyond that: I felt the whole apartment was a
mess and everything needed to be cleaned and tidied up. I finished my
hospital bag and left everything in the lobby, telling my husband that
we would be heading to the hospital that same night. I just had it in my
guts, you know. I didn't even have any symptoms, I just somehow knew
it. That day we had walked a lot, and the whole cleaning thing at night
left me exhausted, so we went to bed and I was soon in a deep sleep.

I
was awaken by a contraction around 4:30AM. It was a bit painful so I
assumed it wasn't a Braxton Hicks contraction like the ones I had been
having for the whole pregnancy, but still I wasn't sure. And I didn't
really care honestly, I was so tired I just wanted to sleep! By 5:30 I
had has several contractions and I must have made some sound, because
Jeff woke up and asked me if I was really in labor. I said: I think
so... But both of us simply went back to sleep, ha! This may be due to
the fact that with Liam's birth, from this very first contraction until
he was actually born, 32 long hours went by, so this time we knew better
and knew we had to rest while we could! What I didn't know is that this
time around things would go so much faster.

Around
8:30AM my contractions were painful and I couldn't keep quiet so I
ended up waking Liam who was sleep in between my husband and I, and got
all worried that mama was in pain! I downloaded an app to count
contractions and was so amazed at what I saw, my contractions lasted for
1 minute and came in every 3-5 minutes, it was time to head to the
hospital! I called my parents and asked to come pick Liam ASAP, and then
I headed to the shower. The warm water on my lower back was the best
feeling ever, I didn't want to leave! When I finally did stop the water,
the contractions had escalated from mild to very strong, and I could
only bear the pain by bending over or on the floor on my knees. At this
point my parents arrived and my mom, seeing me like that, advised me to
head to the hospital right away, but I told her there was no way I was
going to deliver a baby on an empty stomach! So she made breakfast for
me and I ate it the best I could in between contractions, and only then
was I ready to leave. It was 10AM.

The
problem at that point was I was on the floor as soon as a contraction
hit in, so it was like impossible for me to make it to the taxi. But I
gathered all my strength and stood up after a contraction had just
passed and started walking and didn't stop until I reached the taxi,
when another one came in. The taxi ride lasted for a bit more than 10
minutes and, surprisingly, the movement of the car seemed to soothe me,
and I only had one moment of deep pain. When we arrived I waited for a
contraction to finish and started walking right after just as I had done
before, and went all the way until the delivery room admissions. Once I
got there, I went down on my knees on the floor again, not only because
of the contraction that I got but because of the notice I saw on the
counter: Please wait for some minutes, we'll be with you shortly. There
was no one on sight! Only a waiting room full of relatives who started
standing up as soon as they saw me like that, to see if they could help
finding some midwife around. I remember several of them asking me if I
wanted to sit on the chairs, they were so kind and yet so naive, I
couldn't even stand up! Finally they found a midwife and I rushed inside
while Jeff filled in the documents needed for admission.

The
midwife asked me to remove my clothes and left me alone. When she came
back I don't know how many minutes later, she found me fully dressed and
laying on the floor. I simply couldn't move! Jeff came back at that
moment as well and he helped with my clothes, so the midwife could
finally check how dilated I was. It turned out I was 8cm dilated. All I
could say at this moment was: epidural, epidural!! I wanted the
anesthesia so bad, and I was worried they would tell me I was too
dilated at this point to have it, but luckily it was ok.

As
I soon found out, though, the moment Noam had chosen to be born was
chosen by many other Barcelona babies as well, and the maternity ward
was completely collapsed! The minutes that went by while waiting for the
anesthetist were the longest of the whole labor process. When he was
finally available for me, he came in and sat down with the intention of
explaining the secondary effects of the epidural. I was like, are you
kidding me, just give me the anesthesia, I'll sign whatever paper I have
to! But then apparently someone needed my bed more than I did?! and
they took it away so I had no bed in which to lay for the epidural to be
put! Oh my. I went to the toilet and saw my mucus plug was coming out.
After a little while they told me we would put the anesthesia in the
delivery room directly (I was in a dilation room at the time), so off we
went!

I
got my shot and started to relax just to find out some minutes later
that the anesthesia hadn't worked on my right side, just on the left
one. The midwives said this happens sometimes, if the baby is pressing
on one side, the anesthesia may not flow correctly. They said the
solution was to put the anesthesia again or simply give birth, and given
my state, it was clear: I was to give birth. So they suggested breaking
my waters so that Noam would make it down the birth canal faster and I
could start pushing already. And so we did, and before we knew it I was
ready to push. I was sitting on the bed, holding myself onto a bed-sheet
that was attached to a bar on top of the bed, and with a big mirror in
front of me to see Noam coming out. The minutes in which Noam's head was
fully stuck in my vagina I shall never forget. I don't know how on
earth I didn't tear! I pushed for about 10 minutes and my baby boy was
finally born.

Noam arrived at 12:42PM
and weighted in at 3515gr, 50cm long. I didn't need any stitch, and
that was the happiest thing I could hear at that moment, right after
knowing my baby was perfectly healthy, of course! A new love story had
just started... I love you, Noam!

February 22, 2017

You may have noticed on Instagram that I've been knitting a lot lately, mostly for baby Noam, but also for Liam, for whom I knitted this warm snood he's been wearing every single day recently! Here's the pattern in case you want to give it a go, it's easy and lovely!

Twist Snood Knitting Pattern - Size 2-3 years

Choose a Category 5, Bulky Chunky Yarn. I used Katia's Big Merino in color 3. You will need around 120gr.

Using 6mm straight needles, cast on 28 stitches.

Row 1: (K2, P2) to last stitch

Row 2: repeat row 1

Row 3: (P2, K2) to last stitch

Row 4: Repeat row 3

Repeat Row 1 to Row 4 until you have 120 rows. Draw up and secure.

Fold your work horizontally and sew the edges. Twist one of the sides of your work and, like that, sew both ends.

January 31, 2017

Not short after knowing that we were expecting a February baby, I decided my maternity pictures would be taken in the snow. I couldn't imagine a better scenario for a winter baby! When I hit the 36 weeks mark, we finally made it happen in the French Pyrenees.

I was wearing the prettiest pregnancy dress from Asos, which I had already worn to a wedding some months before and absolutely love. Also, how amazing is this natural light effect we got in the pic below!

January 23, 2017

Last month we had one of the most memorable adventures with Liam yet. We went pony riding! Recommended age for pony riding starts at 2-3 years old, so off we went! We decided on the Centre d'Equitació Poni Club Catalunya, in Sant Just, as it's right next to Barcelona and that's where my friend Helena's brother keeps his horse, which we visited after the pony ride, too.

I thought the activity was fantastic, not only because Liam looked like a pro on the pony and really enjoyed it, but because the ride is very well organized. A pony ride costs 7euros, and lasts for about half an hour. That's an approximate timing, because no one from the club comes with you, you just take the pony and go on the signaled path by yourself, which we thought was marvelous. The path is a circuit that leads you back to where you started, and it takes, indeed, around 30 minutes at a slow pace.

Our partners in crime: my friends Helena and Cristina <3 Also, I love how Liam looks at mommy in this pic!

I was truly amazed at Liam and his pose for the whole time, he looked like he was born to ride a horse, ha! A month later, he stills asks me at least once a day to go back to see "Ben", his pony :D

We went to see Helena brother's horse and Liam fed him so good! I'm so happy he enjoyed this day so much, as we all did!

By the way, I was 33 weeks pregnant and felt huge already, imagine now at 38! :D